The Muslim Association of Canada has apologized for the phrase “Jew free” appearing during an interactive word-cloud exercise at its recent convention.
During the three-day conference in May 2026, MAC carried out “a public, anonymous audience-participation exercise” that produced a word-cloud image, built on responses to the question of what kind of community the participants wanted. Among the 50 entries that appeared in the cloud was the phrase “Jew free.”
This was widely shared, with groups such as HonestReporting condemning it as an act of “normalized Jew hate.”
In a recent statement, MAC announced it has completed an internal investigation into the incident.
It acknowledged that the phrase was “offensive and hurtful to Jewish Canadians” as well as “Muslim Canadians and to anyone committed to a pluralistic society.”
MAC rejects antisemitic word cloud entry, says submitter could not be traced
It added, “Offensive and discriminatory statements of any kind have no place in the Muslim community, and MAC unequivocally states that the submission of this word was unacceptable and does not represent its values.”
MAC said the phrase was submitted to the word cloud by an “anonymous, bad-faith” actor. However, despite the internal inquiry, MAC said it was unable to identify the person behind the “antisemitic” phrase as all submissions were anonymous.
It further claimed that the investigation found that the phrase did not reflect the views of the Muslim youth participants of the session, but it did not state how this conclusion was reached.
MAC concluded that the incident would have been preventable had controls been in place to screen submissions within the third-party application. The organization promised to implement additional training for youth facilitators ahead of future sessions, in order to ensure that any attempt “to express hate during a live session is identified and addressed in the moment.”
MAC defends Hasan al-Banna discussion as study of Islamic history
The word cloud was not the only point of contention regarding the conference. HonestReporting noted that, prior to the workshop, speaker Khaled Al-Qazzaz of Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council (CMPAC) spent 20 minutes praising Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna as a youth organizing model for Islamic revival.
“This isn’t just a disturbing and all-too familiar phrase on a screen,” HonestReporting said. “It’s a warning sign of what happens when Jew-hatred is institutionalized and normalized in spaces meant to shape the next generation.”
MAC defended the speech, saying it was “a historical biographical session using Imam Hassan al-Banna’s life to educate attendees.”
“Imam Hassan al-Banna built a movement significant in the modern history of the Muslim world. The message was that Canadian Muslim youth with far more access and freedom should not underestimate themselves,” MAC said on Substack.
“Imam Hassan al-Banna is a renowned figure in Islamic history, and his life is taught in Islamic studies programs across Western universities. Discussing his biography is part of studying Islamic tradition.”
Qazzaz publicly responded, saying: “I spoke in my personal capacity about a letter written by Imam Hassan al-Banna to Muslim youth in the early 20th century, using his words to inspire young people to positively contribute to their communities.”
“All Canadians, including Muslim Canadians, have the right to explore ideas and draw from their heritage. That is what free societies protect. I will not accept attempts to censor this exercise, least of all from fringe pseudo-journalists whose priority is Islamophobic smear campaigns.”